Go To IPA | Stone Brewing

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Since Day One, we've been abundantly forthright and fully transparent about our lust for hops. It's led us to craft many an IPA, most of them imperial—some intense for their time and all timeless in their intensity. For Stone Go To IPA, we embrace our hop obsession in a new way, funneling an abundance of lupulin-borne bitterness into a "session" IPA that delivers all the fruity, piney character of a much bigger IPA. To accomplish this, we employ "hop bursting," a new technique wherein an irrational amount of hops is added during the final phase of the brewing process to coax out extreme flavors and aromas while also imparting a burst of desirably pleasant bitterness. The result is an alpha-acid-rich beer that fans can enjoy more of without missing out on the assertive hop character you, like us, crave. So, sit back and go two with your new everyday go-to IPA and bask along with us in the glory of the almighty hop.

Reviews by Braz:

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Appearance: It looked yellow to me, and had no head at all by the time I walked from the bar to the beer garden.

Smell: Super strong hops! Lots of citrus, but also some more astringent herbaceous notes and some floral.

Taste: Not nearly as bitter as I was expecting from the hop-bomb scent, but not at all sweet, either. A very thin, dry flavor that disappears quickly, making it extremely drinkable and summery, although slightly drying.

Mouthfeel: I found that this beer had a very thin body that bordered on slightly watery. Not overly carbonated, although the dryness of the flavour emphasized the carbonation. All of this means it's very refreshing and extremelt sessionable, but by no means a full-bodied beer.

Overall: I am a fan of session IPAs; it's nice to get through three beers with friends and not be much affected by alcohol. I love the citrus notes, and would definitely buy this in hot weather. However, my go-to session IPA is still Founder's All Day. It's higher in alcohol, but overall a more solid beer.

Bottle: Poured a bright yellowish color ale with a medium size white head with good retention and light lacing. Aroma of grapefruit and citrus notes is really enticing with nice floral undertones. Taste is also dominated by nice citrus and grapefruit notes with some floral undertones and limited bitterness. There is some small dose of residual sugar notes that are noticeable with some non-descript malt notes. Body is light with good carbonation. Nice to see that you can get this nice hops profile without having too much alcohol.

Pale gold colour, medium carbonation, light body.
Very nice smell, fruity (pears, citrus) and herbal. A lot of hops can be felt, as advertised in the description. Some bitterness also, but it is nicely blended with a great honey taste and feel, which is long lasting.
A great session IPA overall.

A: Pours a golden yellow color and leaves a white fluffy head that vanishes quickly but leaves some good lacing on the glass, can easily see through this beer, its' appearance is more of a golden ale to me but it still looks nice

S: This beer smells really hoppy for the low ABV (which was the point of this beer, but they did a great job) I get some lemon zest, the perfect amount of pine, a little bit of grapefruit, and some mingled citrusy fruits, can barely notice some sweet malts, smells fantastic

T: The flavor profile for the low ABV of this beer is amazing, it's a bit mixed together but you can still notice all the different characteristics of the flavor profile, I am getting a slight hint of lemon zest, nice piney bitterness that you would expect from solid IPA, a hint of grapefruit and some bold mixed citrus flavors, incredible flavor profile for a session IPA, was a bit skeptical of this beer at first but it has blown my mind, incredible flavor profile for the low ABV

M: The mouthfeel to this beer is superb, you get the punch of a single, possibly a double IPA but the light, crisp, refreshing mouthfeel of a session beer, this category is what pushes this beer to the top for me, you will notice a slight oily presence to the feel as well but it is very light and compliments the beer, superb mouthfeel

O: This beer far surpassed my expectations and has blown me away, this beer will literally be my "Go To" session IPA, you must get your hands on this!

I'll go with Arrogant Bastard over Stone Go To any time. I'd rather not Go To buy this ale again.

The look is very promising. It's a deeply orange-tinted amber. The ale appears to be relatively unfiltered, with an enticing cloudiness to it. The head foams up markedly. It doesn't retain as much as some, which makes it easier to pour. There is some lacing down the glass.

The smell is the first hint that something is amiss. Although it does have some fruit-forward hops, it's not quite right. It's neither here nor there. It's sort of tropical with maybe a piney note but basically it just smells like hops. It's not unpleasant like Samuel Adams' misfire Hoppy Red, but it's not awesome like other Stone ales I've tried.

The taste of this ale is reminiscent of Sculpin, although not that bad. Stone may be too talented to fall into the flaws of Sculpin. Both ales, however, are the product of going for a lighter malt. Go To is trying for low alcohol. Sculpin is trying to do a light malt to bring the hops forward. With Sculpin the outcome is a marked aftertaste that can seem fishy, and a notably oily finish. With Go To, the flavor and aroma are just not shooting out the lights like they do in, for example, Arrogant Bastard Ale. It's true that Stone IPA also hasn't got as much flavor as Arrogant Bastard, but there is enough flavor, and it is all good. In contrast, to my palate there's an off note in Go To. It's not repulsive, but it's not delicious. They may be using the same hops or process as Sculpin. I'm not sure.

The feel of the ale is light bodied. There's nothing wrong with it. It's not exactly watery, but the overall effort seems to have been to create a light ale, and to my taste it's too light.

Overall, this is a fully flavored light IPA, but not all the flavor is delightful. It's not a disaster but with all the great choices - especially from Stone - there's no reason to buy Go To.

Hops, hops, and more hops. Hop bursting is a process where you add a huge amount of hops during the final brewing phrase and boil it only for a short while. And lemme tell ya, the result is amazing. Colour is pretty nice, kinda what you'd expect from a pale IPA. Smell absolutely knocked me off—they should start making perfumes and air fresheners off of this! Taste is quintessentially IPA-esque, only with a load more hops than usual. Feel is pretty nice, but could’ve used more alcohol—4.8% just isn’t what I would expect from this style. Overall—this is an amazing IPA, par for the course for Stone Brewing. These guys just cannot mess up and make a great beer, every product of theirs should be considered a national heritage. Thanks, guys!

Pours into a nonic a dull lighter golden with a half finger white head that fades quickly leaving a half ring of broken lace behind.Lighter aromas with grapefruit rind standing out most with a bit of toasted cereal grain as well.A big shot of grapefruit and lemon oil hits ya on the palate and lingers for quite awhile along with sweet biscuit in the finish,quite a nice shot of hops.Maybe the best "session" IPA I have had yet.